Interview with The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles - 1994 - PFF

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles - 1994 - PFF

What do you get when you put Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, and Kirsten Dunst together in a film? You get the 1994 film adaptation of Anne Rice’s bestselling novel “Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles”. A beautiful film about the life, times, and relationships of the Vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac. The film stars Brad Pitt in the role of Louis, a 25-year-old plantation owner in 1791 Louisiana. He has recently had a great tragedy in his life and is longing to end his pain when he is attacked by a vampire who offers to end his life for him or make him “young forever”, the choice is pretty obvious if he had said no, we would not even be discussing this film, as there would not have one.

Louis is telling his story to reporter Daniel Molloy, who claims he is a “collector of people's stories”, Daniel, played by the talented Christian Slater, is at first doubtful of Louis’ claims of being a vampire, but those doubts are dispelled with one lightning-quick flip of a light switch. Daniel is taken aback by Louis's appearance and begins to understand he has a special interview thing place. Side note of interest: Christian was given the role after the death of his friend River Phoenix, who was originally cast for the role. Slater donated his $250,000 salary from the film to two of his late friends favored charities.

This film was nominated for 23 different awards and won 18 of them. Including the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films - USA Best Horror Picture 1995, Best Performance by a Younger Actor - Kirsten Dunst, and the International Horror Guilds Best Movie - 1995. Though not all the awards received were positive. They also received the Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple - 1995 for the pairing of Cruise and Pitt. (They tied with Stallone and Stone for their film “The Specialist”). The film was not without its share of drama and just plain weirdness. For starters, anyone who had the role of a vampire had to hang upside down for up to 30 minutes at a time during the make up process. This would cause the blood to rush to the actors' heads, which would make the facial veins swell. The makeup artists would then trace over the swollen veins creating the creepy translucent-skinned vampire look. Unfortunately for the actors, this process had to be repeated multiple times due to the blood quickly draining when they were turned right side up. This is one of the reasons for the lengthy make-up process. The drama came from Brad Pitt, he stated in an interview that he hated and was uncomfortable in his costume and contacts and HATED playing “second fiddle” to Tom Cruise, on and off-screen. It got so bad for him that he actually called his friend and film producer David Geffen to beg out of the role. When he discovered there was no way out, he suffered out the last few months of production. Tom Cruise has never made a statement in response to Pitt’s claims. Though Tom had his own troubles to deal with. Being only 5’7” to Brad Pitt’s 5’11”, he had to have a platform to stand on to lessen the difference in their heights, as well as to make him taller than Kirsten’s Claudia.

So let’s chat about some of our vampires, shall we? I think we are going to start with our narrator through this adventure. Louis, played by the talented Brad Pitt. Brad was already an established actor by the time he became our storyteller in this tale of vampires. He had dabbled in horror with roles in “Freddy’s Nightmares” and “Tales from the Crypt”. He also had lead roles in the 1992 hybrid animated film “Cool World” and the 1993 serial killer film “Kalifornia”. Though I am not a fan of Brad Pitt, I do think he brought a certain sensitivity and likability to Louis, a man tortured by personal tragedy. He also was the voice of common sense or morality at times, to temper Lestat’s almost carefree attitude. After he was our Louis, he got many roles that helped keep him a household name. Films like 1995’s “Se7en” and “Twelve Monkeys”, The 1998 romantic film “Meet Joe Black” and the 1999 sleeper hit “Fight Club”. He has also lent his voice to a few animated films, like the 2003 “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas”, 2010’s “Megamind” and 2011’s “Happy Feet 2”. Most recently, you can see him in 2014’s WWII drama “Fury” as well as the sequel to his 2013 zombie film “World War Z”, which is due out in 2017.

Alright, on to our next vampire, Lestat de Lioncourt, played by Tom Cruise. Tom already had a pretty established career before he was cast in the role that made him a household name in the vampire fan community. (Though not always favorably). His star had already started to rise quickly with roles in such beloved classic films as 1983’s “The Outsiders” with Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, and Rob Lowe, as well as playing the hero “Jack” to screen legend Tim Curry’s monster “Darkness” in the 1985 fantasy hit “Legend”. But it was in 1986 when he because a household name as the cocky pilot in “Top Gun”. Personally, I never found Lestat a likable character, but I am willing to admit that it might be the fact that I don’t care for Tom Cruise. After he was Lestat, He went on to star in the “Mission Impossible” franchise of films, as well as multiple science fiction films like 2002’s “Minority Report” and the 2013 “Oblivion”. Whether you love him or hate him, one thing that cannot be denied is his acting ability. He still sells out action movies and at 50 years old does a lot of his own stunts. From fantasy heroes or race car drivers, policemen, soldiers or secret agents, he plays a great hero. Most recently you can see him in the 2015 “Mission Impossible: Rogue Agent” as well as look forward to seeing him in “Top Gun 2”, “MI:6” and “The Mummy”, there are no release dates for any of these films as of yet, but “The Mummy” is currently filming as of the writing of the article and “MI:6” is in pre-production”.

Next, we have one of Spain’s greatest imports. I am talking about, of course, the amazingly talented Antonio Banderas. He plays the leader of the Parisian vampires, Armand. He was still pretty unknown to American fans when he played this role, though his film career had already been going strong for over a decade in Spain. I always found Armand to be a bit creepy, but mainly because he has embraced his vampirism and has left almost all things human behind. He seems to no longer have feelings or compassion, or regrets and that makes him so much unlike Louis who is still struggling to maintain his humanity. After his role in ‘Vampire”, Antonio went on to become a household name with roles in such films as 1995’s “Desperado”, 1996’s film adaptation to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s successful play “Evita” with Madonna. He charmed a new generation of fans as the loveable “Puss in Boots” in the “Shrek” franchise as well as a movie all his own in 2011. One of the most popular films in our home from his resume is the 1999 retelling of the Beowulf story “The 13th Warrior” alongside screen legend Omar Sharif. Most recently he has been in the third installment of the popular “Expendables” franchise as well as part of “Spongebob Squarepants Movie: Sponge out of Water”. Whether he has been playing the spy dad in the “Spy Kids franchise” or a swashbuckling cat, vampire, or a medieval Arab warrior he plays his parts well. They are all usually likable, but with some sort of flaw, which to me is an endearing quality in a character.

This film is a great addition to a vampire film collection. It isn’t too scary or gory. It has a touch of romance and some great vampire mythos. Though some of it is “disproven” as Louis is telling his story. All in all a great film, worth the time to check it out.